Whistle-blowers or chickens or imaginary?
Headlining for BBC Scotland today: Leann Sutherland was 21 and suffering from chronic migraines when one of Scotland’s top surgeons offered to operate. She was told she would be in hospital for a few days and had a 60% chance of improvement. Instead she was in for months while Sam Eljamel operated on her seven times. The BBC can reveal her surgeon – the former head of neurosurgery at NHS Tayside – was harming patients and putting them at risk for years but the health board let him carry on regardless. NHS Tayside has consistently claimed it only knew about … Continue reading Whistle-blowers or chickens or imaginary?
‘Senior’ doctor’s anecdotal evidence is wrong on QEUH infection rates – they were provably not ‘unusual’
Repeatedly on Reporting Scotland today and on the BBC Scotland website, by Lisa Summers, this claim: A senior doctor has said the number and type of infections at Glasgow’s child cancer wards were unlike anything he had seen before. Dr Dermot Murphy told an inquiry he became convinced environmental factors were to blame. NHS Greater Glasgow denies a link between the buildings and infections except in two distinct cases. Dr Murphy told the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry this week he believed there was a link between the environment at the new children’s hospital and the infections which led to the closure of the … Continue reading ‘Senior’ doctor’s anecdotal evidence is wrong on QEUH infection rates – they were provably not ‘unusual’
20 years after ‘Shock and Awe’, I’ve had to change, ironically – have you?
When the facts change, I change my mind – what do you do, sir? John Maynard Keynes On 15 February 2003, 100 000 marched from Glasgow Green to the Armadillo. I was at the tail-end with Ayr CND and just behind a feminist group with protest boards saying ‘The only bush I trust is my own.’ A few days before that, with around 20 University of the West of Scotland students, I attended a vigil organised by Ayr CND at the Cenotaph in the town. The CND guys with acoustic guitars taught the students to sing ‘Where have all the … Continue reading 20 years after ‘Shock and Awe’, I’ve had to change, ironically – have you?
SNP MP applauded for uncompromising verdict on Johnson
‘The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government’
Scotland’s far superior cancer waiting times and BBC Scotland’s hoped-for but imagined ‘pandemic of cancer death’
First thing today, Reporting Scotland Down tell us: The most recent data show record numbers of people waiting over two months to start treatment after an urgent suspicion of cancer. They then use one Ayrshire woman with no explanation of how she came to be interviewed, to say: …we are going to enter another pandemic, people to fight on with cancer because this has been left for too long.. As often with Reporting Scotland Down, no statistics because they don’t fit. First, quickly on the ‘pandemic of cancer‘: Over the 10-year period from 2012 to 2021: The age-adjusted cancer mortality … Continue reading Scotland’s far superior cancer waiting times and BBC Scotland’s hoped-for but imagined ‘pandemic of cancer death’
Access to dentistry climbs to record levels – Reporting Scotland down by avoiding a collision with the facts
On a morning of particular talking-down, Reporting Scotland Down have the above, followed by: ….or impossible to find and NHS dentist nearby and whether the crisis has led to more problems now because of missed check-ups. Note the use of the word ‘crisis’ to refer to a rumour. The evidence once more: From Public Health Scotland in January 2023: 95.4% of the Scottish population were registered with an NHS dentist as at 30 September 2022. Nearly all adults living in the most deprived areas were registered with an NHS dentist in September 2022, compared to 91.9% in the least deprived areas. … Continue reading Access to dentistry climbs to record levels – Reporting Scotland down by avoiding a collision with the facts
Scotland’s drug deaths – the TREND is still downward
The media are making much of a slight upturn in the last two quarters after six quarters suggesting a fall in suspected drug deaths. The variation from one quarter to another is not a trend but that over twelve, three years, may be. After climbing to the beginning of 2021, with variations from one quarter to another and with plateaus, suspected drug deaths clearly fell until Q3 in 2022. The last two quarters suggesting another plateau, even a slight increase, might, might, indicate the beginning of a worrying upward trend but equally, like the plateau in 2019, be followed by … Continue reading Scotland’s drug deaths – the TREND is still downward
We’re reported to, not for.
Reposted in TuS, from DruFastDruFurious today in r/Scotland: Compare and contrast the media’s line and focus. £600,000 of SNP members’ money goes missing = Leading figures arrested. Doctored images from 2017 claiming to show the old FM in a police car are splashed across front pages. This is truly the worst financial scandal in Scottish political history, so say the headlines At least £10,000,000,000 of taxpayers’ money (maybe several times this) goes missing during Covid = The media moves on. No arrests are made. The chancellor at the time is later elected Prime Minister. £100,000,000 on delayed ferries. Inefficient shipyard … Continue reading We’re reported to, not for.
